April 29, 2017 thru May 2, 2017
Breakfast with Mick and Linda in Durango – then on to Mesa Verde. Drove into the park (Lauri’s pass sure is handy for quick National Park visits) and checked out a couple overlooks. We did the official Balcony house tour. Fascinating. The people lived above on the Mesa for 700 plus years, but some moved down to the cliffs in the 1300’s. They only lived there for 100 years and then, for unknown reasons, moved on.
Left Mesa Verde and headed to Moab. Pulled into Chili Pepper bike shop to get a bike trail map. Little did we know it was next to the brew pub, during the 25th annual car convention. And we thought the people were lined up along to street to watch us come into town. The parking lot was a total zoo. Rick shoe horned into a spot and we got some good trail advice. Just to show how crowded it was Rick didn’t even want to go to the brew pub. Per Scotts suggestion we went to Willow Springs – it too was a bit “tight” but we landed in a pretty spot. First impressions not totally positive i.e. close to the road, neighbors, hot, dusty, no facilities. The view was nice. As usual the spot seemed better the next morning. The neighbors friendly (well Rick got stuck “visiting” with a blowbag). In Mountain Biking Mecca so we better mountain bike.
Day one was a 20 plus mile ride on jeep road, single track and sort a slick rock into Arches National Park. Willow Springs Road is the old way (before 1959) into Arches. Good way to not have to fight traffic. We made it to balancing rock, Garden of Eden and the Windows. Not a ton of arches – but we got the idea. Should have taken our bike locks so we could have hiked up to the arches. On the ride back we scoped out alternate camping spots and move a bit so we had fewer neighbors, a grander few and a slick rock patio. Much nicer than the red, dust patio we had originally. Nice to get cozed in.
Day 2 we checked out the nearby single bike trails. My favorite was Wahoo. Flowy trails mainly thru the red hills, some slick rock patches. Rick and I met up for a snack where we enjoyed the view. After the ride we headed into town for water, electrical fittings (to fix solenoid wiring), toilet emptying, propane and much enjoyed shower. The errands went like clock work. Yea. Oh yes we got a case of diet mountain dew for the full timers who where keeping an eye on the stuff we had left to mark our spot.
Van Around 